


Together

by bestliars



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Distance, Long Distance Relationship, M/M, Open Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestliars/pseuds/bestliars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So they're together, whatever that means.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the hockey hipster ships ficathon. The prompt was together. I changed a few little things from version posted there. Stellarer checked my grammar <3.
> 
> the standings referenced were accurate when this was written (4/2/13) but have already changed.

The world in Sam's dreams: they live together, they sleep together, they fall asleep together, they wake up together, they eat breakfast together, they shower together, they nap together, they eat dinner together, they play hockey together, they win together, they go home together, together, together, together, together. Together.

The real world: Sam is in Edmonton, John is in Long Island. Both of their teams are hanging in ninth place, almost there, just not quite good enough, not yet, but there's still a month left. The playoffs are still a possibility, maybe. Maybe not. But maybe.

Eventually it will be summer, and then they'll get to be _together,_ except not really, not all the time. In the summer they can be more together than in the season but there's still separation, personal space and public lies. But the summer is better.

Sam has learned a lot about togetherness from loving John. In the past however many years—Sam remembers when they met, but can't say when this began—Sam has learned that together isn't always about standing hand in hand, sometimes it's a state of mind. Sometimes it's a promise.

They're together because they say they're together. They get to define what together means.

In the season they're together on different teams in different conferences. In the summer they are together through workouts and sunny days. They were together for three weeks the November before last even though they didn't talk to each other once. Sam can't really remember what they were fighting about, but he knows that they were still together.

They can be together when they hook up with other people. That happens sometimes, but at least for Sam it has happened less and less as he's found that he prefers the tethering togetherness of being mostly monogamous to the temporary togetherness of having another body next to his.

They were together at Christmas in Switzerland and it was romantic like they never had been before. That was wonderful, but it isn’t better than the together that comes at the start of the summer, where date night means ordering pizza and being couch potatoes. Every minute of every day, no matter what else happens, they're together. That’s important.

Really, Sam thinks his life is pretty alright. He's playing in the NHL, and yeah, his team could be better, but he _likes_ them, and that counts for something. He's having a good year. He feels like he knows what he's doing with his life most of the time. But sometimes...

Sometimes life sucks. Last month there was a long road trip where they got shut out twice in a row. It was pretty miserable. At that moment Sam was not really enjoying his life, but then he took a step back and remembered that as much as those games were terrible he and John were still together. Having that made things so much better.

So yeah, Sam's dream world is together, together, together all the time. Sam doesn't know if he would ever let go of John's hand. But the real world is pretty alright too. They may not get to see each other as much as they want to, but whatever, they're still together. They aren't together because it's easy, they're together because they're in love, and that's great. Sam doesn’t know much about the future, but he feels it’s safe to say they'll be together til the end.


End file.
